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Warming; 

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Ventilation. 









































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Home Warming and Ventilation 


(ft Coffecfton of (ftrftcfes 


BY 


Nath’l C. Fowler, Jr. ; William J. Baldwin, M.E.; 
Anson W. Burchard, m.e.; Richard Swalwell; 
JOHN HOPSON, JR.; ALLAN FORMAN ; 

JOHN S. BILLINGS, M.D., LL.D.; J. JENKINS; 

A. N. BELL; “J. W. C.;” - “AMERICAN ARCHITECT ;” 
LORING & PHIPPS; WILLIAM EASSIE, C.E., F.L.S., F.G.S.; 
ALBERT H. BUCK, M.D. ; W. P. TROWBRIDGE; 
BOSTON JOURNAL OF COMMERCE ; JOS. A. WOODHULL. 





V 


'777? 


Published by 

THE HERENDEEN MANUFACTURING CO., 

Geneva, New York. 





Copyright 1892 
The Herendeen Mfg. Co., 
Geneva, N. Y. 


A 


Press of IV. F. Humphrey , 
Geneva , N. V. 







To the People: 

A collection of articles by authorities on Home 
Warming and Ventilation; men disconnected with 
business, thoroughly competent by study and experi¬ 
ence to write upon these important subjects ; men whose 
judgment is not biased by mercenary motive, who have 
no interest in the Herendeen Manufacturing Company. 

It is our desire to present the most comprehensive 
collection of readable and thoroughly reliable opinions 
upon two subjects of vital moment to every man and 
woman. 

If the reading of these articles suggests the using of 
our Kurman Boiler, well and good. If it suggests any 
other boiler or any other apparatus of heating, made by 
anyone else, the benefit recurs to others at our ex¬ 
pense and the reader’s gain. 

We propose to do business upon the broadest plat¬ 
form , to present to the public healthful information by 
authorities over which we have no control, trusting to 
the sense of the people and the merits of our boiler to 
bring to us proportionate financial remuneration. 

The Herendeen Mfg. Co., 

Geneva, N. Y. 




Modem Home=Heating. 

BY NATH’l, C. FOWBKR, JR., BOSTON. 

(NOTE—This article, signed “A Family Man,” appeared in the Inter¬ 
national Journal of Surgery, New York, October, 1891.) 

I am not a hot water man, nor a steam man, nor a furnace 
man, nor a fire-place man, nor a stove man. I have no interest 
in heating, except the interest of any decent man for a decent way 
of doing things, for I, like the rest of mankind, spend half of my 
life in the artificial climate of indoors. 

I am a family man. I live in a house of my own. I have lived 
in several houses which were not mine. I have kept warm, and 
shivered, and baked, and perspired with every kind of heating 
under the sun, and with the sun. I shall simply speak from ex¬ 
perience, making no attempt to display a scientific knowledge, 
which I have n’t. 

There are five ways of warming or heating a house. The first 
is by the fire-place; the second is by the stove; the third is by the 
furnace; the fourth is by hot water, and the fifth is by steam. 

FIRF-PLACKS. 

A word about the fire-place. I would not have a house with¬ 
out one; I would rather have a house with a good many. A 
fire-place is an ornament. It presents a most cheerful fire, and 
gives to the room so much home-like beauty. It aids ventilation; 
but one might as well attempt to warm his house with a hot water 
bag as to try to warm it with a fire-place. 

STOVFS. 

The heating by stoves may be next considered. A house can 
be well warmed by stoves, if the stoves are good for anything. 
The principal objections to stoves are simply these: A stove is a 
dirty sort of thing. It requires a large amount of care. It is 


5 


almost sure to allow coal gas to escape. It takes up unnecessary 
room. It must be taken down and put up twice a year, and it 
hasn’t that air of respectability which modern house-keeping 
suggests. 

A house can be heated but not really warmed by a stove. 

FURNACES. 

Now to the furnace. I am willing to admit that theoretically 
a furnace furnishes a fairly good method of house heating. It is 
easy to take care of; it is located somewhere all in one spot; it 
will throw off a generous amount of heat, if one burns enough 
coal. I am further willing to admit that a first-class furnace, 
properly constructed, and properly set up, with a scientific fur¬ 
nace expert engaged at a regular salary to run it, will heat 
two-thirds of any house anywhere, in a healthy and pleasant 
manner, although it is so inconsistent as not to heat the same 
two-thirds with any degree of regularity. 

Ninety-nine per cent, of furnaces are run by servant girls, and 
ninety-nine per cent, of servant girls can play the piano better 
than they can run the furnace. I never knew of a furnace, in¬ 
cluding those which I have used myself, which did not generate 
and freely disperse coal-gas before it was three months old. 

I never knew of a furnace which was not a coal eater with a 
ravenous appetite, or which kept my house warm in cold weather 
without being overfed. I was never able to heat over two-thirds 
of my house at one time, if there was any wind outside, so that 
the artificial heat indoors would be even and general. 

FURNACE REGISTERS. 

I never knew of a furnace register which did not belch forth 
ashes and dust. I never knew of a furnace which did not use up 
the bad air in the cellar, if there was any bad air down there, no 
matter how well the air boxes were constructed, and I never 
knew of a cellar which did not have bad air, and plenty of it. 


6 


A furnace is nothing more or less than a sort of stove located 
beneath the rooms to be heated. The air which passes through 
the furnace is more or less burnt, if the furnace is hot enough to 
heat the house. The furnace does not create a draft in the room, 
because the draft must be in the room if the furnace draws. I 
have never known of a furnace anywhere which would properly 
warm a house. It might heat a part of it at a time ; it might 
even burn some of it, but there is a difference between heating 
and burning and warming. 

MODERN METHODS. 

Now I come to modern methods of warming—hot water and 
steam. I am using the former in my house, and the latter in my 
office, so I am familiar with both. I believe that hot water warm¬ 
ing, properly constructed, is the most economical and healthiest 
and most convenient method of producing artificial indoor 
warmth. I almost think I know this, because I have experienced 
it. I am warming my house with the direct system ; not because 
I have any objection to the indirect, but because the direct seems 
to me to be as good as the indirect, and is certainly more eco¬ 
nomical. 

INDIRECT HEATING. 

Simply to give a little information, which may not be possessed 
by every reader, I will state that the indirect system, so-called, 
consists of having coils or stacks of pipes placed in the basement, 
the air reaching these pipes by coming from the outside, through 
air boxes, passing over the hot pipes, and rising through regular 
register shafts through regular registers, into the room, while the 

DIRECT HEATING 

consists of having radiators in the room, the radiators being fed 
directly with the hot-water, coming from the hot water boiler. 
The radiators in my room are close to the walls, are not in the 
way, and by neat and pretty decoration are ornaments, rather 
than otherwise. 


7 




TEMPERATURE. 

The water in the radiators cannot reach a point higher than 
212 degrees; I seldom allow it to get as high as 200 degrees. I 
can warm my house in moderate weather by bringing the water 
to 150 degrees. In the spring and fall I find that a temporal 
fire, even made of kindling wood, will bring the water to a suffi¬ 
ciently high temperature to take the chill off my house, and in no 
way make it uncomfortably warm. 

HOT-WATER SYSTEM. 

The hot-water system can never burn nor overheat the air, for 
the extra radiation and the comparatively low temperature of the 
water distribute the heat evenly, warming every room through¬ 
out, without any room being much warmer in any one place than 
in others. The wind outside does not influence the effectiveness 
of the hot water system, for the hot water will reach a cold room 
as readily as a warm one. 

NO DIRT OR COAE GAS. 

My house is entirely free from dirt and ashes. Coal gas can¬ 
not reach any of my rooms. The temperature is always warm, 
never hot. The boiler is very easy to take care of; fully as easy 
as a furnace, and it does not burn over two-thirds as much coal 
to do what a furnace cannot do. The indirect system has its ad¬ 
vantages over the direct, or rather certain people consider the 
indirect sj^stem more healthful, and that it furnishes more ventil¬ 
ation. Good judges, however, who have looked at the matter in 
an unbiased light, are of the opinion that there is comparatively 
little difference between the two systems. If one is willing to go 
to the extra expense, and is much in favor of the indirect system, 
the indirect system is to be recommended. The radiators and 
pipes in my house are always filled with water, and can be filled 
in less than five minutes. Rusting is impossible, and I can, in 
less than five minutes, draw off all the water, removing all danger 


8 


from freezing, should I wish to vacate my house in winter tem¬ 
porarily. 

THE BOILER. 

I am using a boiler which seems to me to be the most practic¬ 
able one on the market. This article not being an advertisement, 
I take pleasure in not mentioning the name of the same, but sim¬ 
ply as a guide to others, who may not have experienced my ex¬ 
perience, I will state that my boiler is constructed out of the best 
quality of cast-iron, which I selected for the reason that cast-iron 
will not rust out one quarter as fast as wrought-iron. This 
comparison of rusting has been established by scientific fact, and 
does not even need discussion. My boiler is made on the 

vertical tube pattern, 

presenting the most effective heating surface to the fire, and its 
upright circulation brings the water rapidly to the boiler, heats 
it rapidly, and rapidly sends it all over the house, returning it as 
rapidly to the boiler to be re-heated. My boiler is covered with 
three jackets. The outer one of galvanized iron, an inner jacket 
of sheet iron and a thick lining of pure asbestos between the 
two. Virtually, it wears three suits of clothes,—a vest, a coat 
and an overcoat, which act upon it the same as clothing does up¬ 
on you and me,—keeping inside the heat, and preventing radia¬ 
tion. 

COOL CELLAR. 

My cellar is always cool, the heat coming from the boiler being 
only sufficient to keep articles in the cellar from freezing. The 
smoke-pipe is cool enough to put your hand on it, with the hot¬ 
test fire in the boiler. All the joints are ‘ ‘ screw ’ ’ joints, I having 
avoided the so-called packed joints, which are sure to rot and 
leak. 

STEAM WARMING. 

Steam warming I consider substantially the same thing as hot 
water warming, except it is not quite as pleasant, and is more 


9 


liable to overheat a room. In steam warming it is necessary to 
bring the water to a boiling point to get any heat whatever, while 
in hot water warming, a low temperature will radiate a correspond¬ 
ing amount of heat. 

From my own experience, I can say, that the methods of home 
warming, reckoned on the standard of quality and economy, run 
in about the following order :—Hot water, steam, stoves, furnaces, 
fire-places. 

Notwithstanding the inconvenience of stoves, I would much 
rather heat my house with them than with a furnace, for a greater 
volume of even heat can be obtained from a stove. A stove will 
heat colder rooms, and I think stove-heat much more healthful 
than that which comes from a furnace. I would rather breathe 
over-heated room-air than over-heated cellar-air. 

VENTILATION. 

Ventilation is a subject much discussed, and not perfectly under¬ 
stood. I do not know how to ventilate a house, neither do I know of 
anyone else who thoroughly understands it. It is either a lost or 
a prospective art. I do not see any reason why heating should 
be obliged to do the ventilating, because heating cannot do it 
anyway. Any architect or builder knows how to arrange lower 
as well as upper openings to drive bad air out of the rooms. One 
of the cheapest and best methods of ventilation I know of is to 
have an opening near the baseboard opening directly into the flue, 
or some other outlet especially constructed for it, with hot water 
or steam pipes in this opening. A moderate degree of heat in 
these pipes will create a draft, and draw out the bad air from the 
rooms. Only a few of these pipes are necessary, and the amount 
of hot water or steam required to heat them is too small to be 
worthy of consideration. 


io 


Steam Heating. 

BY WILLIAM J. BALDWIN, M.E-, NEW YORK. 

Within twenty years, the warming of buildings with steam car¬ 
ried through pipes has become a science ; previously, it was a 
chaotic mass of pipes and principles. 

A low-pressure gravity apparatus is the most healthful, eco¬ 
nomical, and perfect heating appliance known, and may be 
constructed to heat a single room, or the largest building, with a 
uniformity which cannot be attained by any other means. 

By a gravity apparatus is meant, one without an outlet, whose 
circulation is perfect, wasting no water, and requiring no mechani¬ 
cal means to return the water to the boiler. It may be likened 
to the circulation of the blood—the boiler being the heart; the 
steam-pipes, the veins; and the return-pipes, the arteries; thus 
carrying heat and life into every part of a building. 

The low-pressure gravity circulation is at present very much 
used in the steam heating of private houses, churches, and 
schools. Its principal merits, when well done, are : It is safe; 
noiseless; the temperature of the heating surface is low and uni¬ 
form; all the water of condensation is returned into the boiler, 
(except a very small loss from the air-valves;) it is easy to keep 
the stuffing-boxes of the heater-valves tight; and it is no more 
trouble to manage than a hot-water apparatus. 

BOILERS FOR HOUSE HEATING. 

Boilers for house heating should have very few parts, and 
be as simple as it is possible to make them; every part of them 
should be constructed with a view to permanency; and parts that 
wear out more rapidly, such as grates, should be so arranged 
that they can be renewed by the most inexperienced person. 

Requirements for house heating boilers are: 

i st. They should contain a quantity of water, sufficiently large 
to fill the pipes, and radiators, with steam, to any required pres- 


ii 


sure, without lowering the water enough in the boiler to require 
an addition when steam is up; for should the steam go down 
suddenly, there will be too much water in the boiler. 

2d. The fire-box should be of iron, with a water space around 
it, as in upright, or locomotive boilers; to prevent clinkering on 
the sides, and the necessity of repairs to brickwork, which are 
unavoidable in brick furnaces. 

3d. The fire-box should be deep, below the fire door, to admit 
of a thick fire, to last all night, and thus keep up steam. 

4th. The fire-box should be spacious, for the sake of good 
combustion. 

5th. The flues and tubes should be large, and in a vertical po¬ 
sition, so they will not foul easily, and so that any deposit would 
fall to the bottom. 

6th. The heating surface should be great in diameter, instead 
of in the direction of the chimney, and the last turn be a drop. 

7th. They should, if possible, be constructed of such shape 
and design, that they will require no sweeping, or cleaning, other 
than removing the ashes; but when it is unavoidable, every 
facility should be made for easy access to such parts; because 
they are often operated by inexperienced persons (house ser¬ 
vants), who will condemn anything which gives them trouble. 

8th. The fire-grate must be easy to clean (anti-clinker), and so 
designed that it will not crack or break when heated. 

9th. The grate and ash-door must be so constructed, that a 
new grate can be put in quickly by any one. 

10th. There should be no tight dampers in the chimney flue, 
and when the flue goes out near the bottom (drop flue), it may be 
dispensed with altogether; but the fire and draft-doors should be 
made to close air-tight (planed), so as to be capable of entirely 
deadening the fire. This will prevent the possibility of coal gas 
escaping.into the house; the deadening of a fire, by shutting off its 
supply of air, is the proper way, for the draft of the chimney be- 


12 


ing unimpaired, draws all the harder on any crack, or crevice, in 
the brickwork, causing an inward current, which entirely pre¬ 
cludes the escape of gas. 

nth. The perpendicular height of the boiler should not be too 
great for the cellar, so the water line will not be too near the level 
+he main pipes. 


Ventilation and Heating. 

EXTRACTS PROM PRIZE ESSAY 

BY ANSON W. BURCHARD, M.E., DANBURY, CONN., IN THE METAE WORKER’S 
BOOK ON HOUSE HEATING. 

The importance of ventilation is universally acknowledged, and 
the connection of the heating of a house with its ventilation is so 
inseparable, that no heating apparatus which does not combine 
with it as thorough a system of ventilation, can be considered 
complete. 

Everyone who has had occasion to examine the subject knows 
that very few buildings are provided with efficient means of ven¬ 
tilation, and that however well the heating apparatus may be 
calculated to maintain the temperature at the desired degree in 
the coldest weather, in very few cases does it insure in connection 
with this an abundant supply of fresh air. 

Where the question of expense and attendance does not enter 
the problem, to secure this supply of fresh air is not such a diffi¬ 
cult matter, and many large buildings are fitted with appliances 
for this purpose of a very complete description. Such apparatus 
require the entire attention of an engineer and are not, therefore, 
practicable for use in a private residence. 

Hence, in designing an apparatus for such a house any venti¬ 
lating appliances that are adopted should be automatic and the 
movement of the air induced by the natural drafts of chimneys and 


13 





hot flues; fans and other mechanical devices being impracticable 
because of the attention required to keep them in operation. In 
arranging appliances to afford this ventilation one of the first 
points to be decided is, how much fresh air will be required. 

Perfect ventilation may be said to have been secured in an in¬ 
habited room, only when any and every person in that room takes 
into his lungs at each respiration, air of the same composition as 
that surrounding the building, and no part of which has recently 
been in his own lungs or those of his neighbors, or consists of 
products of combustion generated in the building, while at the 
same time he feels no currents or drafts of air, and is perfectly 
comfortable as regards temperature, being neither too hot nor too 
cold. 

Very rarely can such ventilation be secured if the number of 
occupants of a room exceeds two or three. 

Without entering into a discussion of the methods and expense 
of securing perfect ventilation, good ordinary ventilation is to be 
secured by keeping the vitiated air diluted to a certain standard. 
All air with which ventilating appliances have to deal, contains 
more or less impurities, some of which are more dangerous than 
others and are less affected by this process of dilution. Of these 
impurities, carbonic acid gas is popularly supposed to be the most 
harmful, but as a matter of fact it is not poisonous and produces 
no harmful effect, even when present in 30 to 50 times the normal 
quantity. But this carbonic acid is generally found accompanied 
by other gases which are harmful, particularly carbonic oxide and 
sulphurreted hydrogen. Hence, as there is no convenient method 
of determining the percentage in which these two latter gases are 
present, it is usual to determine the percentage of carbonic acid 
present, for which there is a simple method, and assume that the 
amounts of the other gases present are proportionate to this. 

As a rule an apartment may be considered well ventilated when 
a person entering it from the fresh outer air does not perceive any 


14 


special odor, and experience has shown that a faint, musty, un¬ 
pleasant odor is perceptible under such circumstances if the 
amount of carbonic acid, of which the normal is about four parts 
in 10,000 of air, be increased to above seven parts in 10,000. If 
the air which has been used and contaminated did not mix with 
the air in the room a comparatively small quantity of fresh air 
would be required. Basing their estimates on this erroneous as¬ 
sumption, some authorities have concluded that 250 cubic feet of 
air per hour for each occupant is all that would be required. 

But as the contaminated air does mix with the fresh air it 
is found that in order to keep the carbonic acid diluted to seven 
parts in 10,000 of air a supply of about 3,000 cubic feet of fresh 
air per hour is needed for each occupant where rooms are occu¬ 
pied continuously. 

The rooms of dwelling houses are rarely occupied continuously, 
and there is a large amount of air constantly being admitted 
through the accidental openings, as doors, windows, cracks, etc., 
so that a supply of 2,000 cubic feet per hour for each occupant is 
sufficient. 


Hot=Water Circulation. 

PROM PRIZE ARTICLE. 

BY RICHARD SWAEWEEE, IN THE METAE WORKER’S BOOK ON HOUSE 

HEATING. 

After an experience of many years in the planning and fitting 
up of heating apparatus, the writer is of the opinion that hot- 
water circulation is the best known medium for heating buildings, 
whether large or small. Whether situated in a climate where the 
thermometer seldom registers zero, or in a climate where the mer¬ 
cury for months seldom rises above zero and where 45 degrees 
below is not uncommon, hot-water circulation, in the writer’s ex- 


15 




perience, lias given and is giving satisfactory results, both as 
regards efficiency and economy. As a system of heating, hot- 
water circulation possesses advantages which recommend it to all 
interested in heating apparatus. It is easily managed. Ordi¬ 
nary help is all-sufficient. It is perfectly noiseless. No pounding 
or hissing sounds. It produces a steady, mild, equable tempera¬ 
ture throughout the building. No overheated or burnt air. It 
is economic. The circulation starting as soon as the fire is lit, 
transmits heat at once to radiators, and it can be easily regulated 
to suit the weather. It is wholesome. No coal gas, dust or 
vitiated air. With ordinary care repairs are nil , while complete 
command is obtainable over all or any portion of the apparatus, 
any desired reasonable temperature—with a well-proportioned 
apparatus — is easily obtained. In the writer’s opinion, the 
direct system of heating is the best for the following reasons : 
The occupants of the different rooms have, with the direct system, 
easy access to and command over the heat supply of their respec¬ 
tive radiators, while with the indirect system it is difficult to 
adjust the register valves to obtain the same result. Again, 
should an indirect radiator or coil be turned off by closing the 
valves and the water it contains not be drawn off, there is the 
danger of freezing, owing to the cold air having access to the in¬ 
closure in which it is placed. 

The indirect system is not as clean or healthy as the direct, as 
dirt is liable to accumulate in the ducts and register-boxes 
during the summer, to be delivered to the rooms during the win¬ 
ter months, vitiating the air supply. The radiators should be of 
cast iron, as this material affords a more pleasing form of radiator 
than box-coils of wrought-iron pipe. Again, though box-coils 
are, in the writer’s opinion, rather more effective foot for foot, as 
commonly rated, in radiating power than cast-iron radiators, yet 
box-coils are open to the objection that dust, fluffy matter, etc., 
accumulate on the upper side of the pipes, and in a comparatively 


16 


short time seriously interfere with their heating capacity. This 
is especially the case where box-coils are covered with ornamental 
screens and marble slabs. The writer has on several occasions 
examined heating apparatus that had become ineffective, and 
found the upper side of pipes coated with an accumulation 
inch to inch thick which resembled in texture and appearance 
a loose felt. This matter proved a good non-conductor, as after 
its removal the apparatus worked efficiently. For these reasons 
the writer prefers using cast-iron radiators, preferring those that 
have the least receptacle for accumulating dust and that are eas¬ 
ily accessible in &11 parts, allowing of daily cleaning or dusting, 
as with any other article of house furniture. Wall coils of 
wrought-iron pipe are not open to the above objection, and where 
they can be suitably used are cheaper than cast radiators, and as 
they consist of a single row of exposed pipes, can be easily kept 
clean. Wall coils when neatly set up on ornamental plates and 
nicely bronzed look fairly well, and it has been the writer’s prac¬ 
tice to use them on upper floors and basements where suitable 
wall space could be obtained. 


Hot=Water Circulation. 

FROM PRIZE ARTICLE. 

BY JOHN HOPSON, JR., IN THE METAE WORKER’S BOOK ON HOUSE 

heating. 

One reason why I prefer warming the house by hot water in¬ 
stead of by hot air or by steam is that, having had experience in 
the use of all these in different houses I have lived in, I consider 
hot water preferable to any of the others. 

Public opinion or common talk has always been recognized as a 
factor in determining the truth, and the progress which hot-water 


17 


heating has made among users in the past few years is an argu¬ 
ment that the growth of the art has evolved its merits. 

It is open to the atmosphere and absolutely safe; it is also 
noiseless. Technically I view it as the best, because the source 
of warmth to a room or house either by the direct or indirect 
method is at a lower temperature than that of hot air or steam. 
The heat from it by either method is often designated as being 
soft and mild. Its low temperature changes the quality of the 
air as to humidity less than either of the others. This reason 
of a lower temperature, together with the fact that water is a 
steadier and more reliable vehicle for the conveyance of heat, 
forms the chief reason why it is more economical than any other. 

It therefore accounts at the radiator and in the place where it 
is intended to be used for more of the units of heat generated by 
the fire, and is the most economical in the use of the fuel con¬ 
sumed. It is my belief that while the hot-water plant will cost 
the most of the three, even if all are as well erected of their kind 
as they may be, the hot-water plant will prove the most economi¬ 
cal in the end, maintenance and repairs being taken into account. 


A Modern Household Angel: 

IT IS THE BURNING TOPIC THAT CONCERNS THE MARRIED MAN. 

BY ALLAN FORMAN, EDITOR “THE JOURNALIST,” NEW YORK. 

About this time of year the married man, who is also a house¬ 
holder, finds just one absorbing topic of conversation which he 
discusses with others of his kind. He may speak incidentally of 
stocks, politics, business, the probabilities of war in Europe, or 
the difficulties attendant upon getting a good cook, but if you 
want to see him really interested and animated, gently lead the 
conversation to the subject of house warming and furnaces. Then 
the most taciturn of the guild becomes eloquent, 

18 


I’ve been visiting some friends in one of our fashionable sub¬ 
urbs, and I ride in and out of town, morning and evening, on the 
train with my host. Our fellow travelers are all regular “ com¬ 
muters they all know one another and they all talk furnaces. 
My ideas formerly on that particular subject had always been 
rather indefinite. I fancied that a furnace was a contrivance of 
some sort, located in the cellar, and supposed to heat the house, 
give off gas and dust in about equal quantities, and afford the ser¬ 
vants opportunities for making an unearthly noise about four 
o’clock in the morning. 

My method of regulating furnace heat has been to blow up the 
landlady. I have always preferred the system of steam heating, 
which I have in my office, because I have found it more effective 
to scold the j anitor than to remonstrate with the landlady when 
the room was filled with gas and dust, and the mercury was try¬ 
ing to keep warm way down in the bulb of the thermometer. The 
janitor would go off and fix things, while the landlady always had 
some irrelevant excuse about the cook having burned out the 
grate, or the packing in the pipes leaking, or some similar matter. 
There seemed to be a continual warfare between the various cooks 
and the furnace, a sort of vendetta which attached to the position. 
From frequent conversations with my landlady I became con¬ 
vinced that the furnace was a highly complicated mechanism, 
something like a watch only less easy to regulate. 

I also took a solemn oath, that if ever I should be obliged to 
run a house I’d abolish the furnace and heat it with fire-places, 
which are cheerful, cosy and picturesque. I made some such re¬ 
mark to a family man of my acquaintance, who asked me to take 
care of his house for him while he made a winter trip to Florida. 
He laughed, and gave me the permission to try the experiment. 
The open fires were pleasing to the eye, but they did not heat the 
rooms. After sitting in front of one for two evenings, with my 
face baked and icicles forming on the back of my neck, I told the 


19 


servants to light the furnace. During the rest of my stay, as tem¬ 
porary master of the house, I had general supervision of that 
furnace, and the way it devoured coal, made gas, belched forth 
dust, warmed part of the rooms and refrigerated the rest, in fact, 
its innate “ cussedness ” was responsible for the careworn look I 
had at that time. Consequently, I sympathized with this unhappy 
carload of commuters who night and morning devoted their ener¬ 
gies to abusing furnaces. 

‘ ‘ Do you know why so many men stay away from church ?’ ’ a 
solemn looking fellow-passenger asked me one morning. I said 
I didn’t. 

“Well, it is because they look foward with joy to going to a 
place which will be warmed, and where they won’t be bothered 
with furnaces.” 

I never saw but one man who was satisfied with his system of 
house-heating, and he is an ex-newspaper man, so his testimony 
doesn’t carry much weight. I rode on to Boston the other day 
with Nat. Fowler, and as he has just built a house of course we— 
that is he—talked about house-heating. He has a hot-water 
heater, whatever that may be, which is endowed with almost 
human intelligence. He neglected to say that it got up and 
lighted itself in the morning, and shook out its own ashes, but he 
assured me that it paid all its own coal bills. He says that he 
has spent seven years, and I forget how many thousands of dol¬ 
lars, in testing various kinds of heating arrangements, and now 
he has the best in the world. He says he has a cast iron, vertical 
tube hot-water boiler in his cellar. Cast iron, because it will not 
rust out one-quarter as fast as wrought iron ; and vertical tubes, 
because they present the most effective heating surface to the fire, 
and tend to circulate the water most rapidly through the house. 

He says his boiler is covered with three jackets, so that the 
cellar is always cool; and the joints are all screw joints, and they 
therefore do not leak. His radiators are beautiful and artistic 


20 




pieces of furniture. 'They keep all the rooms at the temperature 
of a June morning, and the water can be drawn off in five minutes 
in case he wishes to shut up the house. But after listening to 
the tales of woe from my friends, the commuters, I can’t believe 
that any sane man would ever want to shut up or leave a house 
that had a heater in it like the one that Fowler describes. He 
would rather go down into the cellar and sit beside it and pet it, 
and bring it bouquets, and write sonnets in its honor. 

It is one of the regrets of my life that I was so fascinated by 
Fowler’s enthusiastic and lover-like description of his vertical tube, 
cast iron boiler that I neglected to ask its name. If I knew what 
it was I should feel that I were conferring a boon upon furnace- 
tormented humanity by giving this marvelous heater a free adver¬ 
tisement. 

When the suburban resident is released from the thraldom of 
the lawn mower and begins to dally with the poker and coal 
shovel, the furnace is the ‘ ‘ burning ’ ’ topic in more senses than 
one. If ever the whirligig of time and circumstances should bring 
me a house of my own, I’d either get a hot-water machine, such 
as the one Fowler described, for it, or I’d move South. 

Married men and householders have some troubles which 
bachelors and dwellers in hotels know nothing of, and not the 
least among them is the fiend in the cellar—the furnace. The 
man who can transform it into a household angel is certainly a 
benefactor to the human race. 



21 



Ventilation and Heating. 

BY JOHN S. BILUNGS, M. D., 1,1,.D. (EDINB.), SURGEON U. S. ARMY. 

The great majority of hot air furnaces as actually used are un¬ 
satisfactory, and special sources of danger to health, but this is 
not so much the fault of the furnaces themselves as of the man¬ 
ner in which they are set and adjusted. They are better than 
stoves in this respect, that satisfactory heating cannot be secured 
by them without the introduction of air into the room to be 
heated, but the air that is introduced by them is often of & very 
unsatisfactory quality. 

In 99 cases out of every ioo, buildings in this country in which 
this method of heating is used, the furnace is too small. The re¬ 
sult of this is, that in cold weather, in order to secure comfort, it 
is necessary to raise the radiating surface to a high temperature, 
often to a red heat. The contraction and expansion due to such 
great changes of temperature soon loosens the joints of furnaces 
built up of several pieces, and permits the escape of the gases of 
combustion into the fresh air supply. Of these gases, carbonic 
oxide and sulphurous acid are the most hurtful. 

As furnaces are usually set, there is no provision for mixing 
cool air with the heated air. The result of this is, that the air is 
delivered in the room at a high temperature—often at 140° F., 
and sometimes higher—and the only way to prevent the room 
from becoming too warm is to close the register, which, of course, 
shuts off the supply of fresh air. I shall have occasion to allude 
to this again in discussing the subject of moisture of the air. 

The source of air supply to a furnace is often very unsatisfac¬ 
tory. Sometimes it is taken directly from the cellar itself, in 
which case it is almost sure to be contaminated with gases escap¬ 
ing from the furnace door, while the cellar itself contains decay¬ 
ing vegetables, slop buckets, and perhaps an empty sewer trap, 


22 


giving free communication with the sewer ; or the air box from 
the outer air to the furnace passing through the cellar may have 
so many cracks and loose joints, that the cellar air finds an easy 
entrance to it. 


Fire Places and Chimneys. 

BY J. JENKINS. 

According to recent reports of the Fire-Marshal, two-thirds of 
the fires in New York city are traceable to the use of hot-air fur¬ 
naces; and the evil is increasing to such an alarming extent, that 
the fire insurance companies of New York city have been com¬ 
pelled to increase the rates of insurance where they are used, and 
to offer a premium on safer modes of heating. 

Many persons complain of the quality of the heat they obtain 
from their furnaces. In many instances their complaints are 
groundless. Many furnaces are so constructed that after being 
in use for a short time their joints get open and gas leaks into the 
air-chamber. This is a very unpleasant as well as unhealthy ef¬ 
fect. The joints in these instances are usually formed by bolting 
two flat surfaces together, with cement between them. As one 
part usually heats and cools quicker than the other, the unequal 
expansion and contraction of the iron will soon loosen the cement, 
allowing it to work out and form a crack, through which the gas 
escapes to the air-chamber. 

SUMMARY OF LOSSES. 

From the foregoing facts we see that the following losses may 
and do occur in ordinary stoves, furnaces, etc.: 

ist. The escape of free hydrogen, an invisible, combustible gas. 

2d. The heat expended in generating this gas. 

3d. The escape of carburetted hydrogen, an invisible, combus¬ 
tible gas. 


23 


4th. The heat expended in generating this gas. 

5th. The escape of bi-carburretted hydrogen, an invisible, com¬ 
bustible gas. 

6 th. The heat expended in generating this gas. 

7th. The escape of carbonic oxide, an invisible, combustible 
gas. 

8th. The heat expended in generating this gas. 

9th. By the formation of ammonia, a serious hindrance to the 
process of combustion. 

ioth. The escape of solid carbon, a valuable heat-giving ele¬ 
ment. 

The escape of this carbon is occasioned : 

i st. By an insufficient supply of air. 

2d. By too great a supply of air. 

3d. By the want of a proper distribution of air throughout the 
burning mass. 

4th. By bringing such quantities of cold air in contact with 
certain portions of the fuel as to reduce the temperature below the 
burning point. 


Ventilation and Warming. 

BY A. N. BEEE, IN “THE SANITARIUM.” 

Among the controllable causes of ill-health in temperate and 
cold climates, an excessively variable or foul indoor atmosphere, 
due to defects in the modes of ventilation and warming, is among 
the most prolific. And it may be accepted as a general truth, 
that no system of warming inhabited buildings which does not 
include arrangements for effectual ventilation should be adopted; 
hence the necessity of considering these subjects under one head. 

The air, in a state of purity, mainly consists of two sorts of 
gases—oxygen and nitrogen—in the proportion of one part of the 

24 









former, or about 21 per cent., to four parts of tbe latter, or about 
79 per cent.; of carbonic acid, about four parts in every ten 
thousand, and watery vapor in variable amounts—rarely more 
than one-sixth, and rarely less than one two-hundredth of the 
whole bulk. The practical maintenance of these proportions of 
the atmospheric constituents should be the primary object of all 
means of ventilation and warming. 

The whole quantity of air actually respired by a healthy adult 
in 24 hours is about 400 cubic feet. This contains, when once 
passed through the lungs, about five and a half per cent., or one 
hundred times more carbonic acid than it did before it was re¬ 
spired, and is saturated with watery vapor, no matter how dry it 
may have been when taken into the lungs. 

Moreover, it should be observed that the mere space allowance 
should in no case detract from the absolute necessity of means for 
renewal of the air, and the smaller the space to be ventilated, so 
much the more certain should be this provision. If 300 feet only 
be allowed, the air must be changed at least every 20 minutes. 
To neutralize the deleterious properties of respired air and 
replenish it, every person requires 2,000 cubic feet of fresh air 
hourly, and with less provision than this, contamination is sure to 
follow. 

To permit the passage of 2,000 cubic feet of air hourly in ordin¬ 
ary atmospheric movement, requires an opening of five inches 
in the square; and in closed rooms two such openings, one for 
inlet of pure air, and the other for the passage out of that which 
is impure. It is apparent, therefore, that for a single occupant 
of a room 300 cubic feet capacity, requiring a renewal every 20 
minutes, three times as much open space is necessary, and special 
protection from draft, by means of covering; for it should be 
borne in mind that the estimate for dormitory occupancy only 
means for the night—not more than eight hours—a liberal pro¬ 
portion of the amount (800 cubic feet) deemed to be sufficient for 


25 


occupancy day and night, and susceptible of efficient ventilation 
without dangerous draft. 

VENTILATION FLUES. 

To meet the changes and conditions of artificial temperature, 
experience shows that escape flues for foul air should be both 
near the floor and near the ceiling, and flues for entry of fresh air 
four to five feet above the floor and on opposite sides of the room 
from the escape flues. When the weather is cold, the escape 
flues at the top of the room should be closed; when it is warm, 
open. Those near the floor should be open at all times, and 
these, the exhaust flues, should be warmed by a gas jet, or a line 
of steam pipe, to make them draw the foul air. With the heat¬ 
ing so arranged, by steam or hot-water pipes, as to keep the floor 
warm—which is the most healthful of all means of warming—the 
escape flues for foul air should be wholly confined to a level with 
the ceiling, connected with a heated flue. 

WARMING. 

The different modes of warming may be divided into three 
classes : Open fire-places, stoves, including furnaces, and steam 
and hot water. The most universal of all mistakes in regard to 
warming in cold climates—no matter what the mode adopted—is 
to estimate the amount of fuel and heat producing capacity solely 
with reference to warming. Ventilation is equally essential—aye, 
more, and it cannot be effected without expenditure of fuel. And 
the smaller the space to be warmed—the relative capacity to the 
number of occupants—the larger the proportion of heat required 
for ventilation, for the manifest reason that the air has to be 
changed more frequently. 

Close stoves utilize from 85 to 90 per cent, of the heat pro¬ 
duced, and lose through the smoke pipe only about as much as 
the open fire-place saves—10 to 15 per cent. And herein lies the 
striking difference between the relative healthiness of the atmos- 


26 


pbere heated by a close stove and an open fire-place. The 
amount of air which passes through a close stove, heated with a 
brisk fire, is on an average equal to only about one-tenth of the 
capacity of the room warmed, and consequently such stoves re¬ 
quire, if unaided, ten hours to effect a change of atmosphere in 
every such apartment. Thus stagnant and heated, the air be¬ 
comes filled with the impurities of respiration and cutaneous 
transpiration. 

Hot-air furnaces are simply inclosed stoves placed outside the 
apartments to be warmed, and usually in cellars or basements of 
the buildings in which they are used. 

HEATING BY STEAM AND HOT WATER. 

Steam heat is that which is accomplished by means of heat 
generated in the furnace of a boiler, either within or without the 
building to which it is applied : the heat being expended upon 
water which is vaporized and the steam generated thereby dis¬ 
tributed in small pipes as the medium of imparting the heat. 
Steam-heating is divisible into two methods : direct and indirect. 
The first or direct method corresponds to the heat by stoves ; and 
the indirect corresponds to hot-air furnaces. In the direct method, 
the heater stands in the room which is to be warmed, and consists 
of coils of pipe, incased or otherwise, or ornamental boxes. In the 
second, or indirect method, the coils or lines of pipe are placed in 
the basement or cellar, or in flues in the walls, and the fresh air 
is warmed in the same manner as when it passes over a hot-air 
furnace. The special advantages of steam heat over stove and 
furnace heat are the facility with which it may be applied to large 
buildings ; avoidance of the foul gases which may escape from 
an overheated or imperfectly regulated stove or furnace ; and, 
when the boiler is outside the walls of the building to be heated, 
freedom from the risk of fire. 

Hot-water heating is effected by the circulation of hot water 


27 


through a system of pipes so arranged that the water, as it is 
heated, flows in accordance with the laws of specific gravitation. 
It may be distributed with the same facility as steam, over any 
extent of area, and has the advantage of communicating heat im¬ 
mediately that the hot water begins to flow—in much shorter 
time than is required for converting it into steam. 


Our Dwellings Warmed: 

AS THKY AR^ AND AS THEY MIGHT BE. 

BY J. W. C., LONDON. 

With the hot-water system, the. ventilation can be brought to 
much greater perfection than on the old open-grate system, in 
spite of would-be knowing people always harping that the old 
grates are healthy, and for this reason ought to stand against all 
comers. They ventilate the rooms, say these people—-just as if 
the rooms could not be ventilated with any other system of heat¬ 
ing. That they extract an immense amount of air from the 
room, on exactly the same system that the furnace at the bottom 
of the upcast shaft of a coal pit draws the air out of the pit after 
it has traversed all parts of the mine. I do cheerfully admit, 
that were the sole duty the fire had to fulfil to draw a vast 
amount of air from the room, it would certainly do it as well as 
any contrivance that could well be proposed, except we were to 
fix centrifugal fans, as now coming into use, for ventilating col¬ 
lieries in the North, for the purpose. We must now see what 
ventilation really means, before we can decide whether the plea 
for the open grates—that they do ventilate the rooms—is worth 
anything or not. 

Dr. Arnott, in his admirable work on ‘ ‘Ventilating and Warm¬ 
ing, ” justly observes that—“In sitting-rooms, bed rooms, 


28 


nurseries, and inclosed places generally where people assemble, 
the impure air of the breath, the burnt air from lights, odor of 
dishes, etc., because heated, and therefore specifically light, all 
ascend first towards the ceiling, but as no opening exists there, 
in ordinary rooms, for escape (for an open window-top in a room 
which has an open fire-place only admits the cold air), they soon 
contaminate the whole air of the room above the level of the 
chimney-mouth, through which only can any portion ultimately 
pass away. In this way arises great, though often unsuspected, 
injury to the health, and finally to the constitution of the inmates. 
The pale faces and scrofulous habits of the inhabitants of towns, 
and others who live much within doors, are mainly effects of this 
evil.” 

My definition of ventilation is this—that we shall remove the 
impure air from the room at a part of the room wdiere the impure 
air is, and replace it with fresh air from outside, in such a manner 
and quantity, and at such a temperature, that the occupants shall 
not feel the change. Assuming this definition to be correct, we 
may now ask—Does the open grate do this ? Does the open grate 
remove the vitiated air from the room ? Emphatically, I say— 
No ; it does not ! The vitiated air occupies the upper part of a 
room, and this is just the part the open grate has no power over, 
as far as removing the air from it goes. Does the open grate 
introduce the pure air in such a manner and quantity, and at such 
a temperature, that those in the room do not feel the change ? 
Need I answer the question? The open grate merely exhausts 
pure fresh air from the lower three or four feet of the room—air 
which has only just come into the room, under or around the 
door or window, and which, when in, makes straight for the 
chimney throat. This air is never in the room long enough to 
get contaminated ; it is in at the door, and away up the chimney, 
in often less than io or 12 seconds. Half-a-dozen lighted candles 
placed on the floor of any room, will show the direction of the 


2 9 




air-currents by the direction the flame takes. If the air is still, 
the flame should be quite upright; and this simple experiment 
will show us why open grates can never properly warm a room. 

So much for the much-vaunted and overrated ventilating power 
and healthfulness of our open grates. As far as they go, their 
efficiency at warming and ventilating are about on a par. With 
the hot-water system, the fresh air is admitted under the hot 
pipes (properly regulated), and, passing amongst them and around 
them, it enters the room warmed and pleasant ; and the 
vitiated air is withdrawn into the boiler or kitchen flue by means 
of a ventilator placed in it near the ceiling. It has been asserted 
that hot-water pipes give off a dry heat. This, as far as it goes, 
is true ; but the dryness is very different when coming from pipes 
at 150 degrees to that coming from a stove at, say 600 degrees. 
A certain amount of dryness is inseparable from any heat, unless 
we have evaporation ; and that arising from hot-water pipes is 
none too dry, and will be found beneficial rather than otherwise, 
except in severe dry frosty weather, with the wind N. E. The 
excessive dryness of the air then renders the evaporation of a 
little water advisable every day, but it should not be overdone. 

In many churches, concert-rooms, theatres, and other public 
buildings, we see elaborate means adopted for withdrawing the 
bad air near the ceiling by means of the sunlights, etc., but how 
very seldom do we see any provision made for the admission of 
fresh air to take the place of the bad air withdrawn ; and yet it 
needs no argument to prove that the foul air cannot make its exit 
unless some other air comes in to take its place ; and yet this sim¬ 
ple fact is ignored, or nearly so, and consequently we get no 
benefit from those means taken to ventilate the room, because 
they are incomplete. Given a theatre, or other public building, 
to be ventilated in such a manner that 2,000 persons shall breathe 
for three hours in it with comfort: how is it best to be done ? That 
fresh air must come into it, and the impure air pass out of it, 

30 




stands to common sense. It is the mode of introducing the fresh 
air so that its incoming shall not be felt; that is not so well under¬ 
stood as it should be, even by those who ought to know. A body 
of cold air introduced into the above room through a pipe, say six 
inches in diameter, would rush in with such force that it would 
be felt fully 30 feet from the orifice, and would also give every¬ 
body a cold and stiff neck who sat opposite to it in that distance. If 
the above jet or body of air were introduced into the room, not in 
a body but through some fine wire gauze, say 30 holes to the 
inch, its incoming would not be felt three feet away ; and were 
it warmed to 55 degrees it would not be felt at all, provided 
there were means of introducing sufficient air to the room, which, 
of course, one 6-inch pipe would not be ; indeed, it is questionable 
whether ten 6-inch pipes would be enough without causing the 
air to come through the gauze fast enough to cause a draught. 
It would require a piece of gauze, as above described, two feet 
long by one foot wide to pass as much air as a 6-inch pipe would 
convey. The gauze breaks up the stream of air in the same way 
as a nozzle on a watering-pot breaks up the stream of water ; and, 
of course, the smaller the streams the air or water is broken up 
into, the less they will be felt. All that now remains is to warm 
the incoming air to a suitable temperature by passing it around 
hot-water pipes ; and you can introduce as much as you like into 
the room, and no one will feel it. You can never change the en¬ 
tire atmosphere of a room or theatre in this way three times an 
hour, without difficulty; and, barring the fact that people breathe 
comfortably and have no head-ache, no one would know that 
fresh air was being admitted at all. It must be borne in mind 
that enough air must be admitted, or the evil is only modified, 
and not removed; and it is far better to have too much than too 
little air admitted. By gradually lowering the temperature of the 
incoming air, the temperature of the room can be kept at any de¬ 
sired point; and in summer time it can be passed around and 


among blocks of ice, and cooled in that way; so that the theatre 
or room can be kept even cooler than the open air. Were this 
done, it is probable that theatres would pay better during the 
summer months than they do now, and pay the trifling expense 
in adopting this system over and over again. Probably, also, 

“ "The Ghost” would be more inclined to walk at times than he is 
now, if he found the temperature more suitable to that healthy 
exercise. The importance of good ventilation is even greater 
than that of warmth, as we can protect ourselves against cold by 
extra clothing, whereas there is no protection against bad air. The 
mischief the latter does is hardly ever realized by any except a few 
deep-thinking members of the medical profession. It is believed, and 
I think with reason, to be a great developer of that scourge of 
our race, viz., consumption; and there can be no doubt it begets \ 
bad blood, and this lays us open to numberless ailments, which 
once in possession, are very difficult to get rid of. The difference ■ 
between the faces of the poorer childred in Tondon than those in 
the country—the pale, wan faces of the one, and the fresh, . 
chubby, healthy faces of the other—should be enough to convince \ 
any one of the value of pure air. 

In conclusion, I have only to add, that doubtless many will re¬ 
mark that I have suggested nothing new, or not before known, 
which is quite true; but my object has been, not to suggest any J 
new or untried system, but to make known to the million the ad- f 
vantages of a system hitherto known to a comparative few— 
which system is so near perfection, that the prospects of any bet¬ 
ter one being discovered are exceedingly remote. As the Warm¬ 
ing Problem is now attracting so much attention, I consider it 
behooves those who can assist in solving it to do so; and if this 
little work should be the means of placing us one step nearer the 
solution of the difficulty, I shall be abundantly rewarded , for my 
pains. 


32 




Furnace and Furnace Materials. 

FROM “ THE AMERICAN ARCHITECT AND BUILDING NEWS.” 

Furnace makers will claim that the peculiar kind of cement 
they use, or their peculiar method of hammering the joints, will 
prevent leakage of gas. The writer visited a furnace adver¬ 
tised by the makers to be absolutely gas-tight. The joints were 
numerous. In some joints cast-iron was connected with wrought- 
iron, and pipes of cast-iron were set into wrought-iron plates. 
To this the writer particularly objected, and inquired of the 
makers if they could warrant the furnace to stand test at these 
points. The method of working these joints was, they claimed, 
peculiar. No cement was used, and so great was the care 
bestowed on each joint that leakage was a sheer impossibility. A 
fine new furnace was exhibited to show the excellence of the 
workmanship. The writer still objected until challenged by the 
makers to give proof of any of the numerous furnaces put out by 
the company, having ever leaked gas. With the assurance that 
I was at liberty to make any reasonable test I pleased, I ordered 
the furnace to be turned over and water poured into all the joints. 
To the complete astonishment of the proprietors and of the care¬ 
ful workmen standing around, the water which was poured in 
poured out again through nearly every one of the score of care¬ 
ful joints, until the furnace seemed to dissolve, and float away in 
its own tears. 



35 





Ventilation. 




CONDENSED FROM EXPERIENCE, 

BY MESSRS. EORING & PHIPPS, ARCHITECTS, BOSTON. 

The common idea that a circulation of fresh warm air within 
our buildings is as cheap as water, and that all architects should 
be severely condemned for not providing same, at no expense to 
the owner, is now exploded; if desired, it will cost something. The 
world of the present day is not the world of twenty-five years ago; 
neither are our clothes, our food, our surroundings, our houses or 
our heating apparatus. The houses more particularly are better 
built, tighter and warmer, therefore it is especially desirable that 
fresh air should be furnished to the occupants, and that it should 
be properly removed, economically and without drafts. This 
country of ours contains, without doubt, more homes with home 
comforts than any other, but they lack ventilation. 

You may heat your building with steam or hot water as a power, 
but there is no excuse for killing the inhabitants inch by inch for 
the want of fresh air, as it is not yet monopolized or in the hands 
of a syndicate. 

It is possible to properly and surely ventilate any building. 
The average person expects this result to be accomplished by 
punching holes in ceilings, to dead air top-lofts or by a hole in 
the wall. It is proper to say at the beginning, that any correct 
system of ventilation for a building requires more fuel than one 
without such a system. All buildings being designed to fit the 
necessities of the situation differ in plan from each other, and in 
order to introduce a ventilating apparatus, each should be studied 
by one who is familiar with all kinds of plants, as it requires skill 
to so fit it in place as not to invite criticism from the artistic stand¬ 
point. 

It is possible to put in a system properly in old buildings, but it 
entails more expense in proportion than for a new building. We 


34 


do not propose to make any radical changes in internal arrange¬ 
ments, or in any way interfere with the business end of household 
affairs, and the apparatus will not attract attention, be unsightly 
or objectionable in any way. 

If you have a family you are educating them at considerable 
expense, you feed and clothe them, but what do you do for 
their physical welfare ? You are preparing your children for 
the competition of life, mentally, and at the same time weakening 
them by the impure air they breathe. 

The manner of introducing fresh air to the heating plants vary 
from natural pressure of atmosphere to the use of fans. For pub¬ 
lic buildings the fan is essential, for private dwellings it is not 
necessary. The system without a fan is called a gravity system. 
In our arrangement for ventilation we use the direct exhaust in con¬ 
tradistinction to the indirect, the direct being cheaper to construct 
and more certain in its operation. If fan is required it may be 
run by motors operated by water, gas or electricity, and does not 
require any skill. If the fan is located in basement (as it ought 
to be), it is used for pushing the air forward to the heating sur¬ 
faces during the cold season ; in the summer time it may be 
arranged so as to reverse its movement, and bring fresh air from 
above the roof down through foul air ducts into rooms, and out 
of warm air inlets through fresh air inlets to the outer air, a com¬ 
plete reversal of the winter system. 

Heating by steam or hot water is absolutely sure ; there is no 
guess work about it; it depends only on the power used and the 
mechanical application of it. In competition between bidders for 
heating work, the owner should protect himself by dealing with 
a house of first-class reputation, or, what is better, to have a proper 
specification written by an expert, and so have them all figure on 
the same basis. 

We believe that the correct movement of air in a room is to 
have the fresh warmed air enter the room above the breathing 
line, on an inner wall surface, and the outlet for foul air be on the 


35 




same inner wall surface at the floor, and this may be in the form 
of a fire-place ; the air in this manner is diffused all over the room, 
and as it comes in contact with exterior walls and glass surfaces 
of windows cools and falls to the floor, and the pressure on the 
same continues it along to the outlet. 

The stacks or box coils of such a system should be provided 
with mixing dampers, controlled separately and independently in 
each room so that the occupant can have fresh air, fresh warmed 
air, or none, leaving the servant only to attend to the firing of 
the boiler. 

A proper inlet of good proportions, or several-inlets, for fresh 
air should be provided to each stack or coil, and they should have 
automatic wind breaks so that neither the servant nor any one 
else is required to visit the basement at every change of velocity 
or direction of the wind. 

Correct ventilation is a fact which many people believe to be 
an impossibility, and others look at it as a fad ; to the latter we 
would say, that with such a system as above you need never open 
your windows for fresh air ; in fact, the opening of a window in 
the cold season seriously interferes with the perfect circulation of 
the system. 


Healthy Houses. 

BY WILLIAM EASSIE, C. E., F. L. S., F. G. S. 

This heating by hot air with a vengeance, is not likely to 
prove of any service to the householder, who would stand aghast 
at the amount of waste, and wear and tear, which the system 
would entail upon him if performing ordinary work with such a 
giant hand. For a similar reason, I will not enter upon the 
warming of rooms by the forcing of the smoke and heated gases 
through the pipes, instead of hot air. It would be amusing to 
see the consternation of the serving man, who had received or- 


36 


ders to clean out the flues and passages, after a few months’ 
working, and had just got far enough into the work to be able 
to estimate its endless inconveniences. 

It must be conceded, to begin with, that heating by hot air is 
not to be recommended when heating by means of hot water can 
just as well be adopted. The hygrometric and electric conditions 
of the air are so altered by its being burnt or dried up, that seri¬ 
ous annoyances, and even diseases, have been known to follow 
an injudicious method of hot air warming. Some physicians al¬ 
together condemn its adoption where life is concerned, and have 
gone so far as to affirm that it is the prime mover in the decom¬ 
position of many deleterious bodies floating in the air, the parti¬ 
cles of which would be perfectly innocuous if not resolved by this 
peculiar heat into their original gases; we mean the cerberus 
monster of chemistry, sulphuretted, phosphoretted, and carbu- 
retted hydrogen. 

HEATING BY STEAM. 

The only system that can for a moment compare with that of 
hot water, is the system of heating by means of steam confined in 
suitable Radiators. To properly compare these different systems 
would, however, be a tedious task, and hardly called for here. 
The chief advantage of steam over hot water is, that less heating 
surface is wanted for the former than for the latter. Steam heat¬ 
ing can also be advantageously adopted where there is a surplus 
of steam from the engine boiler, or waste steam from the cylin¬ 
der of a high pressure engine. 

As regards expense, it is admitted by most engineers that but 
little difference exists between the first cost of the hot water and 
the steam arrangements, allowing the boilers and pipes to be the 
best of their respective classes, and the work thoroughly carried 
out. In the maintenance of the apparatus, however, the econ¬ 
omy lies with the hot water system, the boiler there being the 
only thing subject to wear and tear, and that wear and tear also 
much less than that of the steam boiler. * 


37 


Heating Comparisons. 

FROM A REFERENCE HANDBOOK, BY VARIOUS WRITERS, EDITED BY 
aebert H. BUCK, M. D. 

The advantages of steam and hot water heating in the direct 
method are, that the heat can be carried a long distance hori¬ 
zontally, and that it can be evenly distributed ; rooms near to 
the distributing centre, or in a vertical line above it, do not rob 
more distant rooms of their share of it. Nor is there any danger 
of the air becoming superheated or “ burned,” as it is popularly 
termed. Another advantage is that there is no liability of gases 
from the furnace fire, nor of cellar air and ground air being car¬ 
ried to the dwelling rooms. 

As compared with each other, steam and hot water have each 
their advantages and disadvantages, on account of which we may 
prefer one or the other under different circumstances. After 
weighing these, the writer is led to make the following general 
statement: That for public buildings and offices steam heating 
appears most suitable, while hot water is the more agreeable and 
salubrious method of the two for residences in the Northern 
States, and the Provinces bordering on the great lakes and ocean. 
Whether it would answer in the climate of the Northwest is 
another question. The reasons for these conclusions are based 
upon the following considerations : Steam is a more powerful 
heat; it requires a smaller amount of piping or radiators ; it can 
be shut off from unused rooms without danger of frost injuring 
the pipes ; when steam is up, an unused room can be more rapidly 
got ready for use ; the temperature can be reduced more rapidly 
in any individual room by shutting off the steam. 

On the other hand, a greater variety and more easy, though 
slower regulating of temperature, may be obtained with hot 
water in two different ways. In the first place, the whole water 
system can be kept* at any point between a little above the natu- 


38 


ral temperature at the time and a point approaching the boiling 
point; secondly, by a partial closure of the valve admitting the 
hot water to the radiator, a very feeble circulation may be pro¬ 
duced, whereas with steam, we must have steam—the boiling 
point of water—or nothing ; and a rapid cooling may be obtained 
when required by opening a window. Rapid cooling of a section 
of a house may be obtained by running off the water of the main 
supplying that section, but this can rarely be necessary. The 
objection to hot water because it is slow in cooling is a trivial 
one. The air can never be heated or dried to that unpleasant 
degree that'is seen with superheated steam, or, to a greater 
degree still, by a hot air furnace. Of course,, by careful 
attention, moisture can be supplied in either bf the three 
systems, but careful attention is difficult to be obtained, and neg¬ 
lect is less likely to produce a bad result in the hot water heating. 
It is a curious fact that many persons with whom we meet forget 
that the moisture from the inside of pipes does not, continually 
and intentionally at least, communicate itself to the outside ; for 
leaks are not intentional, and the escape valve of a radiator is not 
commonly opened for this purpose. Hence we have frequently 
to remind people that the air around steam-coils is improved by 
an evaporating pan. 

Hot water heating is estimated to require about one-fourth 
more radiating surface than steam, hence it is somewhat more 
costly ; while the first cost of both is far greater than that of the 
hot air furnace, but less than that of indirect heating by steam 
or hot water coils and flues. 




39 


About Heating. 

BY W. P. TROWBRIDGE, IN THE “NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.” 

The hot-air furnace is simply an encased stove outside of, and 
away from, the apartments to be heated, generally in the cellar or 
basement of the building. The casing or chamber within which 
the stove is placed is put in communication with the external air 
by an inlet conduit, which serves the double purpose of furnish¬ 
ing air for combustion and for supplying a number of rooms with 
heated air. 

A single furnace may thus heat very economically an ordinary 
dwelling, but # the disadvantages and defects of the system are 
numerous. Beyond a certain limited distance from the furnace 
the difficulty of conveying heated currents in this manner increases 
very rapidly ; and where there are branch ducts leading to many 
rooms, one branch may overpower another, causing excessive heat 
in one room and a deficiency in another. The proper ventilation 
of apartments is difficult, and the highly heated currents, having 
an increased capacity for moisture, are apt to convert the rooms 
to be heated into drying chambers to an extent that is neither 
agreeable nor healthful. A few open fires, arranged to produce 
proper ventilation, mitigate very largely some of these evils. 
For large buildings several hot-air furnaces must be provided, 
and the economy is proportionally diminished. 

A comparison of these various methods must include the cost 
of the apparatus, the cost of attendance, the cost of fuel, and the 
incidental advantages and disadvantages belonging to each. The 
open fire-place possesses the advantage of giving thorough ventil¬ 
ation, but it is the most expensive in fuel. The close stove is 
highly advantageous, in point of economy, where there is little 
ventilation, and, as this is apt to be the rule, it is perhaps the 
least healthful of all methods as generally applied. Both of these 
methods become costly in attendance as well as in fuel when the 


40 


heating of dwellings of many rooms is required, and are inapplica¬ 
ble to large structures and public buildings as they are now 
constructed. The hot-air furnace system is of all the most diffi¬ 
cult to manage so far as uniformity and control of temperature is 
concerned. The danger from fire, the dust, the defective ventila¬ 
tion, and the impracticability of heating more than a limited 
space by a single hot-air furnace are other defects inherent in this 
system. 

The special advantages of steam heating are : ist. The almost 
absolute freedom from risk of fire when the boiler is outside of the 
walls of the building to be heated, and the comparative immunity 
under all circumstances. 2d. When the mode of heating is the 
indirect system, with box coils or heaters in the basement, a most 
thorough ventilation may be secured, and it is in fact concomitant 
with the heating. 3d. Whatever may be the distance of the 
rooms from the source of heat, a simple steam pipe of small diam¬ 
eter conveys the heat. From the indirect heaters underneath the 
apartments to be heated, a vertical flue to each apartment places 
the flow of the low heated currents of air under the absolute con¬ 
trol of the occupants of the apartment. Uniformity of tempera¬ 
ture with certainty of control may be thus secured. 4th. Proper 
hygrometric conditions of the air are better attained. As this 
system supplies large volumes of air heated only slightly above 
the external temperature, there is but little change in the relative 
degree of moisture of the air as it passes through the apparatus. 
5th. No injurious gases can pass from the furnace into the air 
flues. 6th. When the method of heating is by direct radiation in 
the rooms, the advantages of steadiness and control of tempera¬ 
ture, sufficient moisture and good ventilation, are not always 
secured; but this is rather the fault of design, since all these 
requirements are quite within the reach of ordinary contrivances. 

It is only to be remarked, finally , that the most thoughtful among 
our physicians and sanitary advisers realize with anxiety the fact 
that there is a growing abuse of all these systems, except the open 


41 


fire, in providing too much heat and too little ventilation. 'There 
is no mode of heating which lends itself to the correction of this 
evil so readily, however, as the steam-heating method. With 
proper care on the part of architects in arranging inlet ducts for 
fresh air, and ventilating flues heated by steam coils to accelerate 
the draft, any desirable degree of ventilation with low tempera¬ 
ture currents may be secured. Such arrangements should, how¬ 
ever, be studied in advance, and form principal elements in the 
design of a building instead of being wholly subordinated, as is 
commonly the custom, to less important architectural features. 


A New System of Ventilation. 

FROM THE “BOSTON JOURNAL OF COMMERCE,” MARCH 19, 1892. 

The great hall of the new Sorbonne, in Paris, is to be venti¬ 
lated by a new system, the principle used being that of maintain¬ 
ing the walls at a higher temperature than the air which they in¬ 
close. The means by which this is accomplished is very ingen¬ 
ious. A mixing chamber is situated beneath the auditorium and 
hot and cold air are mixed to the temperature desired. The air 
is forced into the auditorium through a great number of small 
holes in the floor and in front of the seats, the openings being 
covered by a wire netting. Before the entrance of an audience 
the walls are thoroughly warmed by forcing air heated to 200° 
into a conduit which delivers the air into a space behind the 
moulding and close to the floor. The walls are thus heated to a 
temperature of ioo°, a temperature which, by radiation, will 
keep the audience comfortable while ventilating the hall with air 
at 6o° from the mixing chamber. All downward cold drafts are 
thus prevented, as the currents of air will all be upward, owing 
to the heated surface. 


42 


“ In Hot Water.” 

BY JOSEPH A. WOODHUEE, ESQ., ANGOLA, IND. 

Ill the early winter of ’87 and ’88,—after a three weeks’ race 
with the typhoid fever—I was extended on the ‘ ‘ Home Stretch, ’ ’ 
trying to win my way back to health and strength. Feeling a 
current of hot air from the furnace, I began to think of the dan¬ 
ger of heating in that way. I concluded that as I had used a 
furnace twelve years, my house was as dry as a powder magazine, 
and about as dangerous, which reflection was anything but con¬ 
soling in the condition I then was, and well calculated to induce 
serious reflection. I had read scientific articles on spontaneous 
combustion, and a friend’s house that was heated by a furnace 
caught afire in the evening when the family were assembled in the 
sitting room, and they had barely time to escape, losing every¬ 
thing but the clothes they had on. Reflecting on these things 
I came to the conclusion, that the danger line of conflagration 
lay very close when the heat needed to keep a house comfortable 
in cold weather, was generated in a furnace, and the possibility 
of my house going up in flame and smoke, presented a prospect 
of cremation that did not afford me any pleasure in contemplat¬ 
ing. Iyike most people when sick, I formed a resolution that as 
soon as possible, I would reform my way of house heating. I had 
for years thought of the possibility of heating with steam, but 
the thought was always ‘ ‘ ambushed by fear ’ ’ of being blown up, 
so I never got any further than an estimate of what a plant would 
cost. One day in looking over the ad’s in a magazine, I found a 
florid description of a hot water heater ; I sent for a catalogue, 
but I was not long in discovering that other manufacturers claimed 
a hearing also. I soon provided myself with an ample supply 
of catalogues, each one of which abounded with good reasons why 
their heaters were superior to all others, backed by a long list ot 
recommendations from their patrons, in which they congratulated 


43 




themselves on the fact, that after examining all other makes, they 
had decided to take theirs. I read, compared and digested until 
I considered myself qualified to make a choice, which I did, and 
continued to dp, until I had chosen and tried six, before I could 
truthfully say, 

“ Now is the winter of our discontent 
“ Made glorious summer.” 

for I found in the “Faultless Furman,” one that meets all the 
requirements. It is positively Good, comparatively Better and 
superlatively the Best heater I have ever had any experience 
with. 

One thing that is claimed in common by all manufacturers of 
hot water heaters, I can most cheerfully endorse, and that is, that 
a well constructed, properly arranged hot water plant, is the best 
system for heating dwelling houses known to modern science. It 
is the “ Gulf Stream” domesticated. 

Of the truth of this I became convinced in using the first 
heater I tried, or I never should have submitted to the incon¬ 
venience, and incurred the expense which these repeated changes - 
caused. Regarding the heaters that I tried and discarded, the 
manufacturers no doubt believe me in fault, or a crank, or both, 
but I succeeded in getting a plant that is ample, pleasant and 
perfectly safe from danger from fire or frost, and I feel that the 
result has justified the trouble and expense. 

In conclusion I would say that what I have learned in regard 
to hot water heating, I have learned in the most expensive way 
that information can be obtained, and that is, in the school of 
experience, but unfortunately for me there was no other way. 



44 


Heating Questions, Answered. 

BY FRANCIS A. HERENDEEN, GENEVA, N. Y. 

How shall I heat my house ? 

Everybody sooner or later asks this question— 

The answer: Use a Hot-air furnace, Steam heat or a Hot- 
water system. Many people combine the last two. 

Which is the cheapest ? 

First cost only considered,—Hot-air,—unless you use stoves. 

Then why is the use of the other systems constantly increasing? 

Easily told, because, leaving out the question of first cost, they 
are admittedly the most healthful and give a far pleasanter and 
evener heat with an abundance of pure fresh air, and besides, 
are vastly more economical in fuel. 

In selecting a Steam or Hot-water apparatus, what is the most 
important feature to consider ? 

The Boiler, as it is the very heart and life of the entire system. 

Are n’t all boilers about alike? 

No, there are scarcely any two built the same way. Some are 
made of wrought iron, and some of cast iron : Some are tubular, 
and some are sectional: Some are made with “packed joints” 
and some with ‘ ‘ screwed joints ’ ’: Some have plain grates, from 
which it is difficult to remove clinkers, others improved rocking 
grates, and so on. 

How can I tell which is the best ? 

By getting thoroughly informed on each under consideration. 
For instance, examine the difference between “packed joints” 
and ‘ ‘ screwed joints. ’ ’ The former never can be relied upon and 
sooner or later are bound to give out and leak. Only lathe- 
turned screwed joints are safe, iron to iron ; the longer used the 
tighter they become. Remember this above all others, that the 


45 


weakest points about all boilers or radiators are their joints. 
Therefore look to them critically. 

What is a “packed joint ?” 

A packed joint is a connection made between two water open¬ 
ings by means of a gasket or washer of paper, asbestos, rubber or 
some other “spongy” material, placed around the opening be¬ 
tween the two parallel faces of the iron and the entire joint made 
tight by pressure, generally by bolting the two faces together. 

Then why is a “ packed joint ” unreliable? 

Because the constant strain it is subjected to by expansion and 
contraction, soon deadens the elasticity of the packing ; the con¬ 
stant heat dries it out and sooner or later it becomes worthless, 
causing leakage and incurring the trouble and expense of repack¬ 
ing. Frequently they give out in the middle of winter. Re¬ 
member also, that all boilers of this type contain from ten to 
twenty-five of these joints. 

Then why are n’t boilers made without joints ? 

Because it is impossible to produce a boiler made in one 
piece that would be practicable and burn the fuel economically, 
and therefore it must be made in sections and connected together 
by joints of some kind. 

What kind of joints are best ? 

Tathe-turned screwed joints throughout; they will never leak.. 

How else do boilers differ ? 

Well, in some, the water surfaces are horizontal—arranged over 
the fire ; and in others, they are vertical. 

Are horizontal surfaces better ? 

Decidedly not. All horizontal surfaces are soon covered with 
a layer of fine ashes and soot and so prevent the heat being ab¬ 
sorbed easily by the water, causing immense waste of fuel. The 
accumulation of a quarter of an inch of soot requires 50 per cent, 
more fuel than would be necessary if the surfaces were clean. 


46 


But can’t they be cleaned ? 

They can be, yes, but in the average house where the boiler 
is left to servants, they are not. “Cleaning the boiler” is a 
dirty, disagreeable job, filling the cellar with dust and soot, and 
the practical result is the boiler is left to “ do the best it can ” by 
itself. 

But what about “ vertical surfaces?” 

They are necessarily perpetually clean. Being vertical, there is 
no place where dust can lodge and collect, and therefore they greed¬ 
ily absorb heat from the fire, and the smoke passes off cool. 

But supposing the “ vertical surfaces ” are in the form of flues 
—vertical flues—what then ? 

Ah, then these flues will choke up. All flues will choke up, 
whether horizontal or vertical, and need constant cleaning. What 
we mean by vertical surfaces that will be constantly clean are 
convex vertical surfaces, such as the outside of tubes filled with 
water. 

Are wrought iron boilers preferable ? 

Not for heating purposes ; for where a boiler lies idle half the 
year, as in a damp cellar through the summer months, it rusts out 
rapidly. Cast iron as is well known is not nearly so susceptible 
to corrosion as wrought iron, and is therefore practically indes¬ 
tructible. 

Of what material should a boiler be constructed? 

The best of cast iron throughout and every boiler should be 
tested to a pressure ten times greater than it ever will be subjected 
to at any time when it is in operation. With ordinary proper care it 
should last a life-time. Every inch of its iron in any way exposed 
to the fire should be constantly backed by solid water so that 
it cannot bum out nor rust out. 

In a Hot-water system what is most essential ? 

A rapid flow of water through the pipes and radiators. 


47 



Why so ?. 

Because the faster the water travels the hotter will be its 
average temperature, and the more heat will it impart to the 
house. 

What causes the water to circulate ? 

Heat. 

What retards its circulation ? 

Friction. 

What creates friction ? 

Sharp turns of the pipe, bad valves, poorly constructed radia¬ 
tors, but most of all a horizontal movement of the water through 
the boiler. 

Why does a “horizontal movement ” of the water through a 
boiler create friction ? 

Because when water is heated, it at once begins to expand 
and rise — straight up — and if it has to move in a zig-zag 
way through the boiler before being liberated into the flow pipes, 
the contact of the water with the horizontal surfaces of each sec¬ 
tion through which it passes creates great friction, and, con¬ 
sequently, its velocity is greatly retarded. 

How then should a Hot-water boiler be constructed so as to 
produce rapid circulation ? 

It should be constructed so that every particle of water, from 
the moment it commences to absorb heat until it is dis¬ 
charged into the flow-pipes, must move vertically through the 
boiler. 

Thereby the minimum of friction and maximum of velocity of 
the water are obtained. 

What makes “ Economy of fuel?” 

Three things : First, perfect combustion ; second, rapid trans¬ 
formation of fire-heat into water-heat; and third, the least waste 
of heat from the boiler into the cellar. 


48 


What promotes “ perfect combustion?” 

A fire-box so constructed that the fire will burn evenly, as well 
at the edge as at the center, and a draft sufficient to give an ample 
supply of oxygen for the complete combustion of all the gases 
generated. 

What promotes ‘ ‘ rapid transformation of fire-heat into water- 
heat ?” 

Three things : First, The fire must lie in the midst of and be 
surrounded by water surfaces. 

Second, The flames and hot gases must impinge, or strike, 
against these surfaces at right angles, and 

Third, The water must be cut up into small portions so as to 
rapidly absorb heat. For instance you can boil a quart of water 
on a stove much faster if you divide it into two portions of a pint 
each. 

What prevents waste of heat from the boiler into the cellar? 

Setting the boiler in brick-work, or, if it is a “portable 
style,” then encasing it in easily removable asbestos and iron 
j ackets. 

Aren’t all portable Hot-water boilers so encased ? 

Very few, scarcely any. 

How should an ideal boiler be encased ? 

It should have three jackets: A heavy inner one of black 
sheet iron, a middle jacket of pure asbestos, and an outer one of 
galvanized iron, separated by an inch and a half air space from 
the inner jacket. 

Will these three jackets keep in the heat successfully ? 

Yes, almost entirely. The outer galvanized iron jacket should 
rarely be so warm but that you may comfortably rest your hand 
on it. 

How much heat would be wasted in the cellar without such 
j ackets ? 


49 


Sufficient to warm three ordinary good sized rooms. 

Then why aren’t all portable boilers supplied with them ? 

Because they add to the cost of the boiler, and unless attention 
was called to their omission, many people would not know that 
they were desirable. 

Which style of boiler is usually preferred ? 

For office and residence heating the “Portable” style. For 
larger work such as halls, theatres, churches, large greenhouses, 
etc., the ‘ ‘ Brick-set’ ’ style. 

How can you have a cool smoke pipe ? 

By making the boiler into a “ Base Heater,” so that all the 
smoke before passing into the chimney is drawn down to the bot¬ 
tom of the boiler in the rear and thereby comes in contact with a 
great deal of water surface before it enters the chimney. 

Moreover, this last water it comes in contact with, is the cool 
return water, and so very rapidly absorbs heat from the smoke 
and reduces its temperature. 

What do you mean by a “ Combination System ” of steam and 
hot water ? 

A system by which you can at pleasure warm your house by 
either steam or hot-water, simply opening a valve to draw down 
the water to the proper level when you wish to use steam, and 
filling up the boiler and radiators again, by opening another 
valve, when you wish to run as hot water. Hot-water is intended 
to be used during spring and fall, and steam during zero weather. 

How. do the various systems range in price ? 

The cheapest is steam, then comes the “combination” and 
then hot-water. The price of the boiler alone, however, in each 
case is practically the same. 

Are there other points to consider before deciding what boiler 
I shall buy ? 


50 


Yes, many ; for instance, the ease of cleaning from clinkers or 
dust, the ease of regulating, whether the boiler is sufficiently low 
in height to go into a low cellar, whether it can be taken apart to 
go through narrow doors or passages, whether it is a “Base Burn¬ 
er, ’ ’ whether it is a “ self-feeder ” or a “ surface burner, ’ ’ whether 
it will prove durable and not need constant repairs, and whether 
it is simple enough “ to run itself” so that any ordinary servant 
can take care of it with safety. 

SUGGESTIONS ABOUT RADIATORS. 

There are perhaps half a dozen different styles of first-class Ra¬ 
diators now on the market, any of which are likely to give satis¬ 
faction if they are generously used so as to easily and comforta¬ 
bly warm your house. One of the most common sources of 
trouble wherever work is let by contract to the “ lowest bidder,” 
is that of insufficient radiation , the contractor taking his chances 
on a mild winter or his power of persuading you that he has 
given you enough. The larger your radiators the easier and 
quicker are your rooms warmed, especially so on a cold winter’s 
morning. 

The best plan is to have a distinct understanding with your 
steam fitter as to the exact number of square feet of radiation he 
will put in each room, and be sure and have your front hall well 
heated in any event, for a warm hall goes a long way towards a 
comfortable house. 

ADDITION AT SUGGESTIONS. 

VauvES. —Use only the best, full-opening, angle valves, with 
Jenkins’ disc, nickle-plated all over, rough body, wood wheels, 
with unions. It is economy in the end to use only first-class valves. 

Have plenty of boiler power, so that you will not be obliged to 
crowd your boiler in severe weather. The most successful and 
economically running jobs have ample boiler and radiator capacity. 

Wherever pipes run through walls, floors or ceilings, use nickle- 
plated or cast-iron (bronzed) plates to give a neat finish. 


5i 


The Evolution of Home Warming. 

REPRINTED FROM THE HERENDEEN MEG. CO.’S CATALOGUE, 1891. 

Warming by artificial means is accomplished in a variety of 
ways. Starting primarily from the open fire there have been 
evolved in succession stoves, hot-air furnaces, and the modern 
systems of steam and hot water heating. 

OPEN FIRE-PEACES. 

The open fire was the original, and for many centuries the 
principal source of heat in all civilized countries; but while it 
gives a genial and healthful warmth and in connection with steam 
or hot water is very desirable for comfort and cheer, as a pri¬ 
mary and independent source of heat it is a failure. The amount 
of warmed air which is carried up the chimney, and the amount 
of cold air drawn into the room around the windows to take the 
place of the air drawn out, is so great that it renders the house 
in cold weather uncomfortable, so that as an independent source 
of heat, the open fire is practically valueless. 

STOVES. 

Next and greatly superior in heat-producing qualities are the 
various forms of stoves. With these no more air is removed from 
the room than is necessary for combustion ; and heat is retained 
in the stove sufficiently long to radiate a very considerable por¬ 
tion of it into the room. 

In the open fire-place only one-tenth of the actual heat gener¬ 
ated is utilized in producing warmth, while in the stove about 
one-half of the heat is utilized for that purpose. 

There are many objections to the use of stoves. Among them 
may be mentioned : 

(1) Nearly as many stoves have to be used as there are rooms 
to be warmed, thus entailing the necessity of caring for many 
fires. 


(2) The coal must be brought in and the ashes removed from 
each individual stove daily, work as every good housekeeper 
knows, accompanied by dust and dirt, to the injury of oil-cloths, 
carpets, furniture and temper. 

(3) They are n °t automatically self regulating but give a con¬ 
stantly varying quantity of heat, and need frequent attention in 
order to preserve an even temperature in the room. 

(4) The escape of poisonous gases into the room is very injuri¬ 
ous to health and is a serious objection. 

HOT-AIR FURNACES. 

Next in order of excellence are the hot air furnaces. These, 
while much superior to stoves in many respects, and very properly 
taking their places, are still open to many serious objections, 
among which are the following : 

(1) It is impossible to successfully warm rooms situated on 
the windward side uf the house, as the pressure of the hot air 
coming into the room through the registers is so slight that it is 
easily overcome by the pressure of the wind around the windows 
and doors, and thus there is often caused a downward current of 
cold air through the registers instead of a warm one upward. 
No matter how important, it is practically impossible to keep a 
room warm which is situated on the windward side of the house. 

(2) If the hot air pipes are carried to the second floor, the 
strong tendency of the longer pipes to take the heat is so great 
that it is found difficult to equally and uniformly distribute the 
heat on all the floors. 

(3) It is impossible to carry heat to any considerable distance 
horizontally, and therefore remote parts of the house must be 
heated with stoves. 

(4) All furnaces and especially old ones give out gas, particu¬ 
larly when the combustion is slow, and a very considerable 
amount of this poisonous gas is constantly escaping into the 
rooms. 


53 





(5) All furnaces throw more or less dust and hence become a 
fruitful source of trouble to tidy house-keepers. 

(6) The plates of a furnace being subjected to the intense heat 
of nearly or quite i,ooo°, rapidly become warped and burnt and 
the joints loosened, so that they have to be replaced in whole or 
in part in a very few years. 

(7) Owing to the excessive heat of these plates, as before men¬ 
tioned, the surrounding air is rendered exceedingly dry and 
vitiated by the partial removal of its oxygen—the life-giving 
property—and is utterly unlike the natural warmth of summer 
weather, the peculiar charm observed in houses warmed by 
steam or hot water. 

With steam, the heated surfaces are but little over 212 0 , and in 
consequence the air warmed by them is not deprived of its mois¬ 
ture, but has almost the exact qualities that nature gives us in 
pleasant summer weather. This is even still more noticeable 
with a hot water system. 

The amount of ‘ ‘ heating surface ” is so small in a furnace, 
that the smoke enters the chimney at a very high temperature 
and with a corresponding waste of fuel. In point of economy, 
therefore, furnaces are not to be mentioned in comparison with a 
steam or hot water apparatus, from which the smoke enters the 
chimney at a very low temperature. 

STEAM AND HOT-WATER. 

The heat from steam is almost exactly identical with that from 
hot-water, and few can distinguish between the two systems when 
properly erected. 

They are both healthful, economical and satisfactory methods 
of home warming, and possess none of the objections mentioned 
as belonging to furnaces or stoves. 

They give out neither gas, dust nor smoke, are automatically 
regulated, and therefore allow of an even and constant tempera - 


54 


ture throughout, the house whatever be the condition of the 
weather outside. 

The system, when once properly set, will be permanent, not 
liable to get out of order, cause trouble and annoyance, or need 
early repairs. 

It will run noiselessly and uniformly, giving a constant supply 
of pure fresh air, free from dust and smoke, and particularly free 
from all poisonous gases. 

Steam and Hot-Water heating have long been acknowledged 
by physicians, architects and builders as altogether the most 
. practical, healthful and economical in every way—and their now 
universal adoption in all the better class of buildings throughout 
the country is conclusive proof of their superiority. 

a heai/th stand-point. 

The importance, from a health stand-point, of a low-tempera¬ 
ture in the body or surface giving off heat can scarcely be over¬ 
estimated. It can perhaps best be shown by illustration and 
comparison with a hot-air furnace. 

With a furnace burned air is served into the room at a tempera¬ 
ture of from 300 to 500 degrees and upwards. Air at this tem¬ 
perature is rendered exceedingly dry and becomes vitiated by the 
partial removal of its oxygen, the life-giving property. More¬ 
over, moving as it does at such a high rate of speed, it bounds 
instantly to the top of the room and there remains, so that while 
the upper air may have a temperature of 90 degrees, or even 100 
degrees, that near the floor will not be over 50 or 60 degrees hot. 
This unevenness of heat is readly seen to be productive of sick¬ 
ness, and is a constant source of danger. 

Warmth from either steam or hot-water, on the contrary, is uni¬ 
form and mild. An equal amount of heat is imparted to the air in 
the room in one case as in the other, but it is derived from a compar¬ 
atively large body of heating surface, having a low temperature. 

The currents of warmed air circulate by convection uniformly 


55 


to and from the radiators, and there is consequently little differ¬ 
ence in temperature between the air at the top and at the bottom 
of the room. With people who are troubled with cold feet this is 
very important. 

Home-warmth derived in such a manner is strictly analagous 
to the natural heat of summer, where no difference in tempera¬ 
ture is experienced in any part of the room. 

This point, in our judgment, is by far the most important in 
the entire discussion, as upon it depends the comfort and health 
of every member of the household. 

THE EATENT HEAT OF STEAM. 

It is a curious scientific fact, that in the production of steam 
from water, nearly 1,000 degrees of heat are absorbed, and ren¬ 
dered latent, without increasing the sensible temperature as indi¬ 
cated by a thermometer. 

To illustrate : If to a certain quantity of water at 32 0 Fahren¬ 
heit, a uniform quantity of heat be applied, and it takes ten min¬ 
utes to raise the water to 212 0 or the boiling point, and the same 
uniform quantity of heat is continued until the water is entirely 
evaporated, it will be found that it has taken about five and one- 
half times as long to evaporate the water as it did to raise its 
temperature from 32 0 to 212 0 , while the steam itself at no time 
has indicated a sensible temperature of more than 212 0 . 

Now it is evident that during the first ten minutes the water 
received 180° of actual heat; therefore during the time it is being 
entirely evaporated it will receive five and one-half times more 
than it received the first ten minutes or, 5^ X 180° = 990°. 

The question what has become of this large amount of heat is 
easily answered. It has become latent and entered into the 
steam, but in so doing it has not increased the sensible tempera¬ 
ture of the steam a particle. 

When this steam is again condensed as in the radiators, and is 
returned again to water, these absorbed 990 degrees of heat are 

56 


entirely liberated and given off in the process of condensation, for 
the condensed water still retains the same temperature, 212°. 

Therefore, by the passage of steam through pipes into distant 
rooms, all the heat of the steam is liberated in the radiator, in 
the apartment in which the heat is needed. 

The following table gives the temperature of steam at different 
pressures, as shown by a steam gauge. Atmospheric pressure is 
included: 


Pounds. 

Degrees. 

Pounds. 

Degrees. 

Pounds. 

Degrees 

Pounds. 

Degrees. 

O 

212 

4 

225 

9 

237 

30 

274 

X 

213 

5 

228 

10 

240 

40 

287 

I 

216 

6 

230 

15 

250 

50 

298 

2 

219 

7 

233 

20 

259 

75 

320 

3 

222 

8 

235 

25 

267 

100 

1 

337 


TO GET BEST RESUETS OUT OF YOUR BOIEER—HINTS ON 
SAVING FUEE. 


i st. During mild weather, when you only want a little fire, 
keep the front feed door slightly open by placing a piece of coal 
under the same. This will act as a cold air check, and will hold 
back the fire. If, however, you are burning soft coal we some¬ 
times find that opening the front door as above, makes the fire 
burn better , as it supplies more air and aids combustion. 

2d. If your boiler is a magazine burner, during the fall and 
spring months run it as a surface burner, and do not fill the maga¬ 
zine with coal. The magazine feed is particularly intended for the 
colder months, so that fire may be carried longer without attention. 

3d. In mild weather do not shake the grate very much, but 
let the fire smoulder. 

4th. Keep the ashes shoveled away from the grate, and before 
you start up in the fall brush out all the soot which has collected 
in the smoke pipe and bottom of the chimney. 

5th. See that the jackets fit tight, and that the smoke pipe fits 


57 

















snugly into the chimney. If it does not, close up all cracks with 
a little stove cement, or fire clay, also all holes around the bottom 
of the boiler where the pipes may come through the casing. 

6th. It is advisable to cover the dome with either asbestos 
cement two inches thick, or else three or four inches of clay or 
ashes—and be careful to cover and thoroughly protect all pipes 
exposed in the cellar or boiler room, by hair felt or mineral wool, 
or other non-heat-conducting substance. This will save a large 
amount of heat, and will make a difference in your coal bill of* 
about 20 to 25 per cent. 

HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF STEAM RADIATORS. 

1. In letting the steam into a radiator, open the valve wide , 
never partly; if in mild weather do not open the air cock; if in 
cold weather open the air cock just enough to hear the air hiss 
slightly, and if the piping is done rightly you will get no water 
upon your carpets; it is better not to open the air cock until there 
is no rushing sound in the radiator after opening the valve. 

2. In shutting off the steam, shut the valve tight, never leave it 
partly shut, as then the steam condenses in the radiator and fills it 
with water, and consequently diminishes the water in your boiler. 

3. If the water is out of the glass tube, never under any cir¬ 
cumstances turn on cold water into the boiler, but dump the fire, 
or throw on ashes, closing the draft and leave the boiler to itself 
until it gets cold, or nearly so; then let in the water gradually until 
it is within an inch or so of its proper height; then, if you do not 
discover any leaks, build a fire and feel satisfied that your boiler 
is all right. 

4. Never feel alarmed if the steam is escaping from the safety- 
valve, but see if the draft is shut; if it is, let the steam into one 
or two radiators; then if it does not stop, put on more coal or let 
in more water slowly, if it has not fallen below the glass tube. 

5. Try the safety-valve occasionally to see that it works 
properly. 


58 


How to Properly Estimate a House 


FOR EITHER STEAM OR HOT WATER. 



The amount of Radiation to be placed in a house depends not so 
much on the quantity of air in the building, as upon the area and 
nature of the exposed outside surfaces, such as windows, walls, 
doors, etc., and their cooling effect upon the house. 

It is evident that small rooms or small houses have a much 
greater amount of exposure per cubic foot of space than large rooms 
or large buildings. For example :—A building 30x40 ft. and 25 
ft. high will contain 30,000 cubic feet of space and have 3,500 
square feet of exposed wall surface. While a building 75x100 ft. 
and 40 ft. high will contain ten times the space of the first build¬ 
ing, or 300,000 cubic feet, and yet have only four times the area of 
exposed wall surface, or 14,000 square feet. 

If the smaller building may be warmed by 500 sq. ft. of radia¬ 
tion, the larger one, if it be similar in style and shape, will be 


59 




equally warmed by four times that amount,' or 2,000 sq. ft. of ra¬ 
diation. In the first case the proportion according to contents is 
one foot of radiation to 60 cu. ft. of space, while in the latter case 
it is one to 150, or 2^ times as much as the former, which is the 
exact ratio of the increased capacity to the increased exposure. 

In this comparison the exposure of the roof is not counted, as 
it would be practically neutralized by the attic or garret in either 
case. 

While therefore the true way of estimating buildings is solely 
by exposure, for ordinary residences, where the ratio of the ex¬ 
posure follows pretty closely that of the cubical contents, it has 
been customary for greater convenience, to estimate them by cu¬ 
bical contents, with such additions to or subtractions from the 
result obtained as may suggest themselves to the experienced en¬ 
gineer by considering the special exposure as to winds, etc., or 
the character of the structure, etc. 

WHAT DOES HEATING COST? 

An ordinary house, say of ten rooms, should be fitted up com¬ 
plete with Steam for about $500. Hot Water about $650. Com¬ 
bination about $600. A house of eight rooms should cost for 
steam about $400, one of five or six rooms about $350. Hot 
water or combination about one-third more in each case. 

These prices should include everything, but of course vary in 
different parts of the country. The average cost of any house 
should be less than four cents a day per room for fuel. 

TOW-PRESSURE STEAM. DIRECT RADIATION. 

To give an inside temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit, out¬ 
side temperature being zero, the house being of medium size and 
well built:— 

For first floor .—Allow one sq. ft. of radiation to from 35 to 50 
cu. ft. of space. 


60 


For second floor— Allow one sq. ft. of radiation to from 50 to 
75 cu. ft. of space. 

IvOW-PRESSUR^ STEAM. 'INDIRECT RADIATION. 

For first floor —Allow one sq. ft. of radiation to from 25 to 35 
cn. ft. of space. 

For second floor —Allow one sq. ft. of radiation to from 40 to 50 
cu. ft. of space. 

HOT-WATER. DIRECT RADIATION. 

For first floor —Allow one sq. ft. of radiation to from 20 to 30 
cu. ft. of space. 

For second floor —Allow one sq. ft. of radiation to from 30 to 40 
cu. ft. of space. 

HOT-WATER. INDIRECT RADIATION. 

Figure about one-half more than for hot-warer direct radiation. 

Note —In estimating the amount of radiation, all flow and re¬ 
turn pipes, unless so covered and protected as to prevent loss of 
heat, must be considered as part of the radiation carried by the 
boiler. All isolated rooms, or those having a northern or western 
exposure, also very small rooms, and those having large window 
surfaces, etc., should be allowed the maximum amount of radia¬ 
tion as indicated above. 

We desire to emphasize the importance of having ample radia¬ 
tion. It is much more desirable to close off part of your radia¬ 
tors in mild weather, than to suffer from cold on severe days on 
account of not having sufficient radiating surface to keep your 
house warm. 





62 




'J 



We recommend the above System of Piping for Steam Heating. 
























































































































































































63 





We recommend above System of Piping for Hot Water Heating or a combined Steam and Hot W ater Job. 



























































































































































































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